


The Jacket

by Phantoms_Echo



Series: Ordinary Objects [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Connie has a Ten-Year Plan, Dorks in Love, F/M, Fluff, Growing Up Together, In Celebration of Season 6, Steven flips another custom on its head but it's okay cause he's Steven, a little angst but not much, letterman jacket
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21709558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantoms_Echo/pseuds/Phantoms_Echo
Summary: He looked into the mirror, admiring himself. “Oh wow, it really is just like in the TV shows!”Connie wanted to say it wasn’t exactly like the shows. In there, normally the boys gave the girls their jackets, especially when they were dating. But then again, Steven wasn’t normal.Connie wasn’t sure she’d like him if he was.So instead of pointing out the faux pa, she suggested. “Why don’t you keep hold of it for me?”A bright smile split his face, entire galaxies in his eyes. Connie knew she’d made the right choice.(It had the added benefit of warning off other girls who might take an interest in the young man Steven was becoming. Connie was two years into her ten year plan. She wasn’t going to let anyone destroy her hard work.)
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Series: Ordinary Objects [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647043
Comments: 8
Kudos: 281
Collections: Steven Universe Completed Recommended Reads





	The Jacket

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe or it's characters, just the idea for this fic.
> 
> PS - To my regular readers: No, I am not off of Hiatus. I am just posting this to celebrate the start of Steven Universe Season 6.
> 
> To my new readers (here in the SU fandom), I got this idea after watching the Other Friends movie. In there, the jacket Steven wears is very similar to a letterman jacket, *but!* Steven doesn't go to school. He shouldn't have a letterman jacket, based on how schools in America work. That got me thinking of who he could have gotten it from and, well, then this little thing came about. :)
> 
> First fic in this fandom, so the characters might be a little off, but I had a lot of fun writing this. :) I hope you have just as much fun reading it.

“Is this a _letterman jacket_?!” Steven exclaimed as he held up the jacket Connie’s mom had hung in her closet about two months prior. The article of clothing in question was pink with two tasteful white lines running along the collar and hems, her school’s colors after her most recent transfer.

Connie had tried to tell her mom not to get her one, that it was a waste of money. She was pretty sure it was impossible to letter in either the fencing club or mixed martial arts club that Connie had joined, meaning the coat was entirely useless. But her mom insisted and in the grand scheme of life, it had been such a little thing that Connie had given in.

The jacket had proceeded to hang in her closet until minutes ago when Steven had taken it upon himself to help her find a Halloween costume. She had honestly forgotten about it.

“Oh yeah. My mom got me one because of the clubs I’m in.” Connie shrugged. “I told her she didn’t have to, but I think this is another ‘trying to support my interests’ thing.”

“This is so cool!” Steven turned it around so he could see her last name lettered on the back. “This is just like on TV!”

Connie remembered not for the first time, that Steven had never had a formal education. He had been taught all that Greg knew, then went to live with the Crystal Gems. He had learned to hone his powers, subdue corrupted gems and later negotiate with the Diamonds, his previous enemies.

He had lived such a vastly different life from her that she forgot that small things would excite him more than any grand powers the universe had. To him, something as common place as a letterman jacket was a curiosity.

“What do you think?” Steven asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

While she had been distracted, he had donned the jacket over his new blue shirt. The jacket actually fit him pretty well, if a little big. Connie’s mom had brought on the large side ‘so you can grow into it’. Honestly, Connie wasn’t surprised it fit him.

“Looks good!” She smiled brightly. “Really works with your ‘pink’ aesthetic.”

“Oh, ha-ha,” Steven mocked with a sarcastic grin. He fiddled with the sleeves, not used to wearing a jacket in his coastal town. He looked into the mirror, admiring himself. “Oh wow, it really _is_ just like in the TV shows!”

Connie wanted to say it wasn’t _exactly_ like the shows. In there, normally the boys gave the girls their jackets, especially when they were dating. But then again, Steven wasn’t normal.

Connie wasn’t sure she’d like him if he was.

So instead of pointing out the faux pa, she suggested. “Why don’t you keep hold of it for me?”

“What?” Steven looked over, eyes-wide in surprise.

“It’s too big on me. I can’t wear it, but it’ll just gather dust otherwise.” Connie tugged the jacket straight on him, checking to see if the buttons would close. They would. “So wear it for me. Until I grow into it.”

A bright smile split his face, entire galaxies in his eyes. Connie knew she’d made the right choice.

(It had the added benefit of warning off other girls who might take an interest in the young man Steven was becoming. Connie was two years into her ten year plan. She wasn’t going to let anyone destroy her hard work.)

* * * * *

The jacket became a fixed part of his look.

Whenever he came around, it was pulled snuggly around him. When Lion randomly kidnapped her in a very strange game of fetch, her jacket was tied around Steven’s waist or slung across the furniture within easy reach. Even when he’d gone to see the Diamonds for the Broadcast of Peace, he’d worn it, refusing countless other ‘formal’ jackets Gems tried to impress upon him.

Her mom had questioned it once.

“Was that Steven just now?” her mother had asked just after Lion had teleported away.

“Yeah, he just came to return a book he’d borrowed.” Connie held up the book in question.

“Was he… wearing your letterman jacket?” Her mom raised a pointed eyebrow.

Connie froze, remembering how much of a big deal her mom had made about buying it for Connie to wear. She swallowed thickly. “Uh…”

Her mother’s disappointed look turned wry.

“Told you it would come in handy.” Her mother gloated. At Connie’s red-faced glare, her mother had laughed and that had been the end of it.

Seven months later, summer break was just starting and still Steven proudly wore her jacket. Then the whole thing with Spinel happened and they were working to rebuild Beach City and Connie was returning from Space Camp, and… the jacket was gone.

And not ‘gone’ as in ‘misplaced’. The one time Steven had accidentally left her jacket at the Big Donut, he had freaked out and searched for it for hours until Lars chucked it at his head.

Right now, he wasn’t freaking out. He was calm, or as calm as he could be with a poisoned ocean and a crater in his house. They were in the middle of rebuilding the city and purifying the oceans they could reach. With the evidence of the last attack, Connie expected some amount of agitation on his part. Steven had always taken attacks on Earth personally – this time more so.

Still, it didn’t explain where her jacket had gone. She had subtly searched for it whenever she visited, but she could never find it. It wasn’t in his laundry or his closet. It wasn’t left on the back of the chair or strewn about his bed. It was like it had simply vanished.

Connie got her answer the day after the Big Donut’s reopening.

Steven had pulled her aside, away from the grand commotion. He had been a mess of nerves, hands fiddling with something behind his back. Connie had almost decided she’d met her seven-year milestone in her ten-year plan when he brought his hands forward to reveal… her jacket?

“I’m sorry!” he blurted out, unable to look her in the eye. “I didn’t mean for it to get damaged! But then Spinel came with that organic poison and some got on it and –I tried to fix it! But my healing powers don’t work on stuff that isn’t living, so I got Pearl to help me, but-! Just-! Please don’t be mad?”

Connie blinked at the sudden deluge of words before turning her attention to her jacket. It looked a little dusty, most likely from being hidden for so long. She wondered, idly, if he’d hidden it in Lion, when her eyes caught sight of a patch along one arm.

It was raised, like some of the patches her friends had received from their sports. The patch was star-shaped, a manufactured base to it, but the design embroidered on top was obviously hand made.

With a start, Connie recognized the project Pearl had been working on in her ‘spare time, honestly, I just needed a new hobby’.

At Steven’s request, Pearl had made a special Chrystal Gem patch and sewn it onto Connie’s jacket in an effort to hide the gaping hole Connie vaguely remembered seeing when she’d shown up to help deal with Spinel. Despite the fact that patches didn’t usually get sewn that far down the arm, Connie couldn’t find it in herself to be mad. Steven was obviously torn up about it, the way his eyes were clenched shut against retribution. He would have beat himself up far more than Connie cared. And besides –“I love it!”

“W-what?” Steven’s eyes blinked open, glistening the slightest bit with tears.

“I love it!” Connie said again, reaching forward to shift the arm to see the patch better. It was an embroidered picture of all the Crystal Gems with Steven and Connie in the center. The sight of it made her smile.

“You… you do?” Steven smiled nervously, like he wasn’t quite sure if he believed her.

“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?” She took the jacket from his hands and slid it on. It was still two sizes too large for her, but a subtle sniff of the collar brought a hint of his scent with it. She posed so the patch was on full display. “It’s so cool! And one of a kind! None of my friends at school would be able to claim they are an official part of the Crystal Gems!”

A beat, then he laughed, happy and relieved. Connie joined in over his silliness. As if she could ever be mad at him.

Well, except if he puts himself in danger, but they had already talked about that.

It was only when they were both wiping happy tears from their eyes that Connie slid her jacket off and held it out. “But I think you should keep hold of this a little while longer. I haven’t quite grown into it.”

Steven sobered immediately. “Connie, I _can’t_.”

“What?” She frowned, brow furrowed in confusion. “Why not?”

“Because… it might get damaged again.” His hands grasped at the star on his shirt, a nervous habit from when they were kids. “I borrowed it before because… I thought I was _done_ with all this! Gems I don’t know attacking me, putting my planet at risk, my city, my home, _my family and friends._ I borrowed it because I thought I could take care of it, that it wouldn’t get damaged, but…” He shook his head. “Now I know. If I keep hold of it, I’ll just mess it up again. I went through _so many_ clothes while learning about my powers and the Gems and _Mom_. I don’t want to add your jacket to the count.”

“Then don’t,” Connie said. She folded the jacket and pressed it into his hands. “Absolutely do not let it get ripped again, you hear me?”

“Connie,” he whined. “You don’t understand!”

“No, you don’t understand! I know you’ll do your best to keep your promise and keep it safe for me.” She jabbed a finger at his chest to make her point, then smoothed her hand over the star, over his heart. “And if you’re wearing it, then I’ll know you’re trying to keep _yourself_ just as safe.”

He held her gaze for a long moment before looking down at the bundle of fabric. His fingers tightened their hold on the folded pink. “What if… what if I break my promise? What if I’m okay, but your jacket…?”

“Then I’ll get an awesome new patch to fill the hole, won’t I?” She waited until he looked up again to smile as wide as she could. He let out an incredulous laugh, but nodded in agreement. Then he slipped the jacket on without another word. He stuffed his hands in the pockets and pulled the jacket snug around him. Then he smiled, looking far more relaxed then she’d seen him in the weeks after Spinel.

Silly Steven, didn’t he knew? She would always forgive him.

(Unless he got himself killed. Her ten-year plan would only work if he was still around to reach all the milestones with and she really didn’t like it when people messed with her plan. And he wasn’t allowed to die afterwards since the last milestone was ‘Live happily ever after’.)

* * * * *

Over the next few years, her jacket became more patch than jacket, but Connie didn’t care. Because every time Steven quietly came to her with another patch, he was coming back _alive_ and relatively unscathed. And each patch was a new treasure in itself.

After that first one, the images began to reflect whatever enemy or battle he had been in to deserve it. Some she wasn’t part of, most she was.

Altogether, they began to tell a story of his life, as amazing as it was. After a while, his guilt turned to excitement when he got to show her a new patch, explaining its origin if she hadn’t been there for it.

After so long, it was more _his_ jacket than hers.

And then came the day he couldn’t wear it anymore.

“Aw, _what_?” Steven exclaimed in frustration. He was struggling to put on the jacket, but it refused to slide up further than his biceps, no matter which way he twisted, he could _not_ force it up. “Connie? Connie! Help! I’m stuck!”

From the couch, Connie laughed at her boyfriend’s plight.

(Ah, boyfriend. How she loved that word. Year five milestone, check.)

“Steven, I don’t think it’s going to go up any further!” Connie managed between peals of laughter.

He let out a grumpy huff, then started squirming again before he fell back on the couch in a heap. “I can’t get it off!”

“Okay, calm down, I’ll help.”

It took some finagling, but they managed to slip it off him. She dropped it between them as he rubbed his shoulder with a wince.

“When did it get so small?” he asked, mystified.

“I don’t think it go small.” She held it up between them. “I think _you_ got big.”

“But it fit just fine last week!” he griped.

“You might have thought so.” Connie raised a brow. “ _I_ wondered how you were able to move it in without splitting it straight down the spine.”

He pouted grumpily at her. She laughed and folded the jacket up.

“I think this is just time telling you to put it away and get a new one,” Connie said. “After all, you’ve been wearing this for almost three years.”

“But I like _that one_ ,” he whined. He gave it another longing look before sighing and dropping his head back. “Fine, I’ll start looking for a new one. It’s just… not going to be the same.”

Silently, Connie agreed with him. Eyes on the folded bundle in her lap, she traced a finger over the letters that made up her name, _Maheswaran_.

An idea snuck up on her. It would be a bit of a stretch, but it might just work…

* * * * *

“Dude, aren’t you cold?” Lars asked as he set two plates down at the bar of his café. One plate, he slid over to Steven, the other he took for himself. He might not need to eat anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the fruits of his labor. Sometimes, it paid to own his own bakery.

“Kind of?” Steven frowned. “I mean, it’s Beach City, so it’s not super cold, but something like a jacket would be good.”

“Then wear one?” Lars stuck a forkful of cake in his mouth.

Oh yes, this experiment had turned out well. It would _definitely_ join the menu rotation.

Lars swallowed so he could continue. “Don’t you have that ratty old thing somewhere? The one you’ve been wearing for years?”

“Connie’s letterman jacket.” Steven glared down at his cake. “It doesn’t fit anymore.”

“It ‘didn’t fit’ about six months ago.” Lars pointed his fork at him. “Didn’t stop you then.”

“I tried to put it on last week and got stuck.” Steven’s cheeks reddened at Lars’ cackle. “Lars! It’s not funny!”

“Sure it is! The mental image of you? Guardian of the Universe? Being bested by a single ratty jacket?” Lars snorted. “That’s _hilarious_!”

“Sh-shut up!” Steven grumbled as he took an angry bite of his cake. Then melted with a pleased sound. Yeah, that’s right no one can remain angry while eating _Lars’_ baked goods.

“So, you looking for a new jacket?” Lars went in for another bite of his cake.

Steven’s eyebrows drew in, thoughtful. He took his fork out of his mouth. “I don’t know. I _should_ , but… I don’t think there’s going to be a jacket that holds a candle to that one. There’s just… so many memories in it.”

“Nothing says you have to get rid of it,” Lars said. Movement in the corner of his peripheral drew his eye to a new person in his café. He had pulled the bell earlier, so they wouldn’t draw Steven’s attention. He grinned at the surprise they held in their hands. “Besides, a new jacket…”

“Means new memories,” Connie finished from behind them.

Steven jumped in surprise, but the familiar voice had him turned with a smile instead of a shield. Then he caught sight of the jacket Connie held in her hands.

“Is that…?” he reached forward, taking the Letterman jacket out of her hands. It felt like he was transported back in time three years to his best friend’s bedroom as he tried to find Halloween outfits for them to wear.

The pink was new and vibrant, still a little stiff from the store. There weren’t any patches, but there were letters on the back, the same _Maheswaran_ he had traced again and again in countless situations over the years. The letters themselves were ragged and a couple had singed edges just like his last jacket. They were the _exact_ same ones.

“I couldn’t transfer the patches, without your old jacket falling apart,” Connie said. “But I figured this way, you wouldn’t feel so bad about not being able to wear your other one. I even got it a size bigger so—?”

“So I can grow into it,” Steven finished. His vision blurred as he took in the image from both his past and his future. He slid it on, used the sleeve to wipe at his eyes, then looked up to his girlfriend. “Connie, thank—?”

His words died in his throat. Because while _he_ was wearing _Connie’s_ new jacket, _she_ was wearing _his_ old one.

“Oh, I… hope you don’t mind?” She tugged on the hem of the jacket. “I know you can’t wear it anymore, but… it fit me pretty well. Guess I finally grew into it, huh?”

She looked good. She looked _really_ good. She looked _even better_ when she gave a small twirl and he saw ‘Universe’ emblazoned on the back, where her name used to be.

“I mean, if you don’t want me to wear it, I won’t—?”

“Marry me,” his mouth said before he could stop himself.

Connie gave him a wide-eyed look.

“Wait, no!” He smacked his forehead and hid his face in his hands. “That’s not—! That’s not how I meant to ask!”

“So you… don’t want me to marry you?”

“No! Yes? I do!” Steven drew his hand down his face to give her a miserable look. “I do, but I had this whole _plan_! The Crystal Gems were going to be there! And I was going to get Helicopter Dog to fly in with the ring! And there was supposed to be music and flowers — _I had a plan!”_

“You had a plan? _I_ had a plan!” Connie threw her hands up. “I had a ten-year plan to marry you since I was twelve!”

“Well, I’ve been planning my wedding since I was ten!”

“I didn’t even _know_ you when you were ten!”

_“I know that!”_

“Guys, please, you’re both pretty.” Lars held up a hand between them, a scowl on his face. “But can you please take your bickering elsewhere? It’s already way past closing time and I still need to clean up the shop.”

With a couple more arguments and one-up-manship, he managed to push them out the door and into the chilled autumn air. As he flipped the sign from Open to Closed, he watched the pair retreat, hand-in-hand and lost to the world.

Ugh, some couples were just too sappy for him.

(Except Sadie. Sadie was fine.)

* * * * *

“… You know, seeing my name on your jacket… it makes me feel things.”

“Good things?”

“I think so.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Did you… did you feel the same? For all the years I wore your jacket?”

“Maybe? A little bit?”

“Wait, is _that_ the reason you were so insistent I wear it?”

“That may have played a small part, but I really was worried about your safety. Statistically speaking, you end up in fewer scrapes and are more likely to come out of a fight with no injuries when you wear my jacket.”

“Compared to…?”

“Before you started wearing my jacket. Obviously.”

“You mean back when the War was still going on and I didn’t know how to control my powers?”

“Yes.”

A snort.

“Sure, okay. So what percentage of me wearing it was really ‘for my safety’?”

“At least 80%.”

“So 20% is that you liked seeing me in your jacket. That is not an insignificant number, Connie.”

“I never claimed it was.”

“Of course you didn’t.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“I really do like seeing you in my old jacket.”

“Are you sure? I know it meant a lot to you.”

“And so do you. Besides, I know you’ll take good care of it.”

“And you don’t mind that I put ‘Universe’ on it? Because I know that your family name is DeMayo, but—?”

“Dad put ‘Universe’ as my last name on my birth certificate. Can’t get more legitimate than that.”

“Oh thank goodness.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

A beat, then the two burst into laughter as they realized just how silly they had been. Connie with her ten-year plan and Steven with his ‘waiting for the _perfect_ moment’. They wasted a lot of time over the years, but they both agreed on one thing.

They would have wasted a lot more, had it not been for a certain jacket hanging forgotten in a closet all those years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> And now to go back to my Hiatus.
> 
> To my regular readers, see you next January!
> 
> To those who don't know me, but gave this fic a try, I hope to see you again the next time I swing by this fandom. :)
> 
> See you!  
> Phantom


End file.
